Save My Life
by DBT the awesome
Summary: The four times Clint Barton saved Natasha Romanoff's life, and the one time she repayed him. Clint/Natasha Hawkeye/Black Widow fluff.


_A/N Hey there! Okay, this is my first ever Clint/Natasha fanfic, so I apologise in advance if it's not that great. I worked pretty long on it so I really hope you guys like it! _

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers._

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**I – He Made A Different Call**

It was a dilapidated, run-down warehouse in Stalingrad. Clint Barton and the SHIELD team barged in, ruining whatever plans the Red Room had in mind. The important men fled, leaving the grunts and the Black Widow to take care of the fighting. Not like SHIELD had wanted those men anyway. No, they were here for something else. They wanted Natasha Romanoff – the Black Widow – dead.

And of course, Agent Clint Barton was the man to do it. He was one of the best fighters SHIELD had, not to mention his near perfect record of successful missions. Yes, if they wanted Romanoff dead, Barton was the one to do it.

The grunts were taken care of easily; they went down without much of a fight. Their target, however, posed a greater difficulty. Barton went in, his bow acting as a very useful short-ranged melee weapon, hitting her at the most unexpected times.

She was better, and both of them knew it. She would have taken him down eventually, if it weren't for the rest of the SHIELD agents rushing to Barton's aid. With all of them picking on her like that, she didn't stand a chance, no matter how hard she fought.

Romanoff panted heavily, cuts and bruises all over her body, and her sleek black outfit torn in various places. She lay sprawled on the floor, unable to get up. She was thoroughly exhausted, and her ankle twisted badly.

Barton's back-up left immediately. They always left him to do the dirty work, to finish off the target and clear the mission successfully. The archer pulled back the string, his arrow securely in place and aimed directly at her heart. At least her death would be quick.

The Russian looked at the SHIELD agent directly in the eye, audacity plain on her face. Even in her last moments, she put up a fight. Barton had to admire that, target or no target.

Suddenly, something changed. He didn't know what it was, but there was something in her eyes, something which made him think twice, which never happened before. There was realization, confusion and…regret?

Natasha shut her eyes and braced herself as he released the string, causing the arrow to fly into the air. _This is it. This is the end, _were her last thoughts.

The arrow soared through the air and hit the concrete ground not more than two inches from her head. She opened her eyes to be greeted with a smirking Clint, his weapon stowed and arm outstretched.

"Come with me," he said simply.

"What's going on?" she replied in her Russian accent, her tone filled with confusion. She didn't get an answer, so she just grabbed his hand firmly and hauled herself up.

He practically carried her all the way back to the Quinjet, and gave no explanation to the questions the other agents bombarded him with. Once they landed, he escorted her to the medical bay before marching straight to Fury's office.

They had a very long – and loud – discussion about what to do with the red-headed assassin, and finally an agreement was made.

Clint was by her bed when Natasha woke up. He smiled and the first thing he did was offer her a job. And the first thing she said was yes.

_._._._._.

**II – Sao Paulo**

It was their first official mission together. Sure, they had done several remote operations together, but those weren't official missions. This one was. This one involved them flying to Brazil to take down a couple of AIM agents. It was a covert mission, and it was easy enough. Seemed like Fury was cutting Natasha some slack, this being her first mission and all.

"Are you ready?" Clint asked the redhead, bow already in hand. Natasha gave him a grim look and a nod. He gave her a reassuring smile and a pat on the back, before running off the already landed jet.

The building was in the middle of nowhere, in the outskirts of the biggest city in the southern hemisphere, and they only had the vegetation and the darkness of the night to rely on to hide. The two were stealthy, though, and snuck past the guards at the entrance and took them out silently and efficiently.

Upon entering, they hid behind one of the wooden desks, spying on the agents. The report said there were three at most. In reality, there were at least fifty.

Clint turned to Natasha and said, "Plan B. On three, split up and go along this row of desks. It'll hide us well enough. Then-"

"Intruders!" a shout came from behind them. The Black Widow whipped her head around and shot a bullet straight through his heart.

"Change of plan. Wipe all of them out. And try not to get yourself killed," Clint cried over the gunshots, already knocked out two. Natasha nodded, and proceeded to use her many known forms of martial arts to knock out agent after agent effortlessly.

It wasn't long later that the bodies of fallen men were surrounding them. They looked at each other and nodded. Neither of them spoke, but they knew what each other meant: Good job, now let's go.

Hawkeye exited the building first, speaking into his communicator to call for a jet. Natasha followed him, and was about to leave the place as well, but stopped when she felt the barrel of a gun at her head. She turned, and saw two AIM agents pointing their guns straight at her.

If it were one guard, she could handle it. But if she attacked one, the other would shoot. She wanted to cry out for Clint, but they warned her not to. There was nothing she could do.

She dropped the gun in her hand and put her hands up, not daring to make a single wrong move. She couldn't die. Not now, not like this.

She glared at the two men, trying to get them to back down, or intimidate them at least. It wouldn't be too long now until Clint came to her rescue. But was it going to be too late?

Both men cocked their guns at the same time, and the evil smiles spread across their faces. Just then, both of them dropped dead onto the floor simultaneously, arrows protruding from their chests.

Natasha picked her gun up from the ground and looked up to Clint. A rare smile found its way to her face and she nodded. Once again, he got the message without any words uttered.

He nodded back – you're welcome.

_._._._._.

**III – Drakov's Daughter**

When she got the news that Drakov was dead, she nearly cried. And anyone knew that Natasha never cried. Her eyes turned steely when she heard that his daughter was on the run, fleeing from the people who killed her father. She got up, and picked up her signature two pistols, attaching them to her belt.

She denied him at first when he offered to help, but Clint can be very insistent if he put his mind to something, and before anyone knew it, they were suiting up. They did their research on the jet, finding out every bit of information about the tyrants chasing Drakov's daughter, Katerina Drakova.

Natasha tracked her to a building in the city of Omsk. She had been captured by the evil organization, Sword of Judgement. They were out to get her, of course. Agamemnon hadn't forgiven her for the break-up, so he got his men to kill Drakov, and kidnap Katerina, just to get her back.

They knew what they had to do. Clint stayed on the roof, keeping watch, while Natasha went in. She found Katerina – young eleven-year-old Katerina – tied up and gagged in a steel-walled room. It was probably a trap, and she knew it. But she was prepared. Grenades, ammunition, blades and pistols were on her, and she was ready to use them when needed.

Clouds of smoke suddenly erupted from the ground – methoxylflurane, or in simple terms, knock-out gas. Natasha ran for the door and tried to open it. No such luck, it was locked. She turned around and saw Katerina lying flat on the ground, still tied up.

Natasha took one gulp of fresh air and held it in before attacking the thick metal door. Her breath was running out, and there wasn't even a dent on the door. She gave up and inhaled the gas, crumpling into a heap on the floor.

She woke up to see Agamemnon's smirking face. She wanted to attack him for killing Drakov, and kidnapping his daughter, but she found herself unable to move, ropes bound tightly at her wrists and ankles.

His smirk widened, and he started pacing the same metal room. He explained how Drakov was standing in the organisation's way, and his death would lure Natasha to him. But that wouldn't have been enough, so they abducted his daughter. It worked, they got her. On the plus side, they had released Katerina after the Black Widow was caught.

Agamemnon quickly pulled out a gun and aimed it at her head. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this moment, Romanoff," he sneered, his yellow teeth glinting in the dim light.

Right now, her only hope was Clint. Protocol was for him to enter the premises after exactly twenty minutes. She didn't know how long she'd been in the building, but he still had to find the room, and take out the many guards. Her chances of survival were very slim.

Natasha glared at him with a rebellious look, her defiant eyes boring into his. Agamemnon chuckled mirthlessly and cocked the gun. He was about to shoot when a commotion was heard outside, and the door exploded. Good thing, too, because ten seconds too late and she would have been dead.

Clint Barton entered the room and tackled Agamemnon onto the floor. It wasn't long after the SHIELD agent started assaulting him that he was unconscious. He turned to Natasha, and quickly cut the ropes.

Her green eyes looked into his grey ones in utter gratitude. He had saved her life once again, and she owed him big time.

_._._._._.

**IV – The Hospital Fire**

Natasha had gotten herself injured in the last mission. It was a bullet wound, to add to the other bullet scars on her body. But it had to be treated, nonetheless. Clint insisted. So they went to a small hospital in Carini, the outskirts of Palermo, Sicily, where they just finished a mission. To say it was tiny would be an understatement, considering there were about five doctors, ten nurses and thirty patients.

She lay on the white sheets, the red soaking the bandage on her leg standing out like a sore thumb. It was hard to move, but she was in no pain at all. The doctor said to try not to use it too much for at least a week, so she and Clint were off.

Three fifteen, the wall clock read. Clint said he would be back at four. Right now he was in his motel room, doing a report of the recent mission for SHIELD. Well, that was one perk of being injured and in the hospital. Forty-five more minutes until he comes and collects her from the hospital, then they can go back to the helicarrier.

Natasha spent the next half an hour collecting her thoughts. It may seem like a long time, but she had a lot of thoughts to collect. Mainly about a certain archer she called her partner, and her feelings for him. Lately she found herself very attracted to him, and it was scaring the hell out of her.

Thoughts swirled around Natasha's head until she heard a shrill scream, followed shortly by the fire alarm. She jumped out of bed and barged out of the room.

To her right was a wall of flames coming toward her. Everyone was in panic. The doctors and nurses were helping the patients out of the collapsing building.

Natasha couldn't just stand there and watch; she had to help. She ran towards the nurses and helped them carry one of the patients, who was obviously unconscious.

She laid him on the wet ground outside before rushing back in. Sure, she was limping a little from her numb leg, but she was in no pain at all. Most of the people were outside the building, with the paramedics and firemen, except a few nurses and Natasha.

They were all rushing out, when a burning wooden block fell onto one of the nurses, the last one of the ones speeding out. Natasha, second last of the line, gestured the rest of the nurses to leave, and they scurried away.

The redhead quickly removed the wooden beam and helped the nurse up. She prodded the nurse a little, telling her to go on ahead. The nurse gave her a thankful look before hurrying out.

Natasha glanced at her left leg. The painkillers were wearing off, and she could feel the sting travelling all around her body. She gritted her teeth and carried on, until pillars of wood came crashing down in front of her, blocking the way.

She doubled over and coughed, the fire may not have been big, but the smoke was so thick. It was so hard to breathe. Looking around frantically for another way out, she became very desperate. She was trapped.

She crouched down and tried to find a route which she could crawl through, perhaps. No such luck, she was truly stuck.

Suddenly, she saw flashes of white, from the nozzle of a fire extinguisher. Her mind was half-dead, but she remembered being escorted out, and she remembered Clint's welcoming arms. She fell into them, and rested her head against his chest.

"They told me you were right behind them, but you never came out, and…I thought I lost you, Nat," he mumbled into her hair, hugging her tightly. A single tear escaped from Natasha's eye before she closed them and she passed out against his chest.

_._._._._.

**V – Budapest**

Natasha and Clint were fighting a huge army of men coming toward them. They looked at each other and nodded before taking out their weapons and began the battle. They were in Hungary this time, Budapest, and they were fighting a huge army of HAMMER agents.

The Black Widow was shooting from two pistols rapidly left, right and centre. Her steely green eyes darted from target to target. Her rich auburn hair hung behind her as she tilted her head back slightly for a better look at her foes.

Hawkeye reached behind quickly to grab his arrow before nocking it, drawing the string and releasing it, causing the arrow to fly into the air to hit agent after agent. One by one they fell, and the number of men diminished.

Suddenly an especially loud gunshot rang out, and Clint fell to the ground, clutching his chest. Natasha nodded at the back-up, signaling for them to take care of the few HAMMER soldiers remaining. She gave him a reassuring look before calling for the medical team.

He was bleeding rapidly, and his breathing was ragged. His gray eyes darted to Natasha once more before he closed them and drifted into unconsciousness. Clint's state was too critical, and he wouldn't be able to make it to the helicarrier alive, so they checked him into a hospital in the city.

Natasha paced the floor impatiently, glancing at the clock every few steps. Seconds turned into minutes, into hours, until the doctor finally appeared. He looked at the redhead with a tinge of pity before beckoning her to follow and leading her to Clint's room.

The archer lay on the bed, all bandaged and hooked up to various machines and drips. The doctor briefly explained how he was lucky to be alive, how he had broken a few bones here and there, and how he would be in a coma for six weeks at least. And with one more sympathetic look, he left the room.

A torrent of tears emerged from Natasha's eyes as she looked at Clint, his eyes shut peacefully and his chest going up and down rhythmically. She spent the next hour talking to him, telling him how she would miss him, and most importantly, telling him how much she loved him.

After that, Natasha pulled herself together and stood up. She was going back to SHIELD, and resuming her work until he woke up. She leaned over and touched his lips gently with hers before turning to go.

Something stopped her, and that something was the beeping of the monitors, and the soft moan of his. She opened the door and called for the doctor before turning to Clint. Holding his hand, she looked at him expectantly, willing for him to wake up.

He did, and recovery was much faster after that. They got back to work two weeks after the incident, and everything returned back to normal.

As far as Clint was concerned, he had gone into a short coma, and miraculously woke up. But Natasha knew something more. She knew that her words somehow impacted him, that one way or another her kiss had saved his life. She had brought him back to reality.

Brought him back to her.

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_A/N And that's a wrap! Once again, this is my first Clint/Natasha fic so this isn't really up to standard. And I know the ending was really cheesy, so sorry about that too. Well, I hope all of you enjoyed it! Please leave a review and thank you all so much for reading!_

_~DBT_


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